Scoring

Most of the episode is scored with what to this string player’s ears sounds like rolled percussion: covered mallets (comparatively) gently striking what sounds like brass percussion instruments to create a shimmering sound. (Note: Any corrections from percussionists absolutely welcome—please chime in in the comments!) This contributes to the impressionistic and dreamy feel of much of the episode, particularly the beginning, as Hannibal wanders through Florence.

From its very beginnings as a genre, Western film has trafficked in the iconic, in the larger-than-life imagery of the tall tale and the never-ending, expansive wilderness that forms the crucial backbone to these stories. More than perhaps any other genre, Westerns deal in types, with their characters standing in for the Other, the Immigrant, …